{"id":563461,"date":"2026-03-25T14:03:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-25T14:03:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/563461\/"},"modified":"2026-03-25T14:03:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T14:03:08","slug":"sf-giants-manager-tony-vitello-brings-needed-energy-to-mlb-club","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/563461\/","title":{"rendered":"SF Giants manager Tony Vitello brings ‘needed’ energy to MLB club"},"content":{"rendered":"

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. \u2014 The top step of the dugout, at the entrance closest to home plate, is the post Tony Vitello has come to prefer<\/a> in his six weeks or so as a professional baseball manager.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s not dogmatic about it and doesn\u2019t consider himself superstitious, which is one thing that separates him from his predecessor, who was known to determine his personal routines based on the outcome of the previous night\u2019s game.<\/p>\n

The contrasts between the 40th manager in Giants franchise history<\/a> and the 39th extend to their age (47 vs. 64), their previous managerial experience (none vs. two decades for four teams), even their height (5-foot-11 vs. 6-4) and facial hair (bearded vs. clean-shaven).<\/p>\n

The biggest difference from Bob Melvin to the new guy was almost universally agreed upon by players in a survey of the clubhouse at the end of Vitello\u2019s first spring training.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love his energy,\u201d starter Robbie Ray said.<\/p>\n

Giants manager Tony Vitello is poised to make history Wednesday, when the team opens its 2026 MLB season. AP<\/p>\n

\u201cWay more energetic,\u201d reliever Ryan Walker added.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe energy he has, the personality that he brings with him, he\u2019s pushing everybody to be better,\u201d shortstop Willy Adames<\/a> agreed. \u201cIt\u2019s something that we needed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vitello rose from a recruiter into a national champion coach at the University of Tennessee, where his teams were known for their intensity and antics before the success that followed.\u00a0<\/p>\n

When he arrived in Knoxville, the Vols weren\u2019t just a sleeping giant. They lacked personality.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would rather we make the adjustment and we go so far that we have to correct it, and that\u2019s definitely what happened,\u201d Vitello said. \u201cWe kind of let the guys organically be who they were.\u201d<\/p>\n

Batters flipped the bird at opposing pitchers on their way up the first base line. Pitchers hurled expletives toward the on-deck circle. Drew Gilbert, now reunited with Vitello as a Giants outfield prospect, went viral for his NSFW celebrations upon reaching second base.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, the culture created a winner.<\/p>\n

\u201cOh, I think we went over (the line),\u201d Vitello said. \u201cI grew up in a household where if you hit a double, you run as fast as humanly possible to second base and you just get ready to be a base runner. You don\u2019t do any celebrating. But it\u2019s part of the deal.\u201d<\/p>\n

If there\u2019s two things Vitello\u2019s teams at Tennessee weren\u2019t, it was boring or mediocre, the two biggest indictments of a franchise in San Francisco<\/a> that finished .500 or close to it and missed the playoffs the past four seasons.<\/p>\n

Still, no coach had ever been hired directly from college to become a big-league manager. History began to be written when general manager Zack Minasian made a \u201charmless\u201d phone call to his boss, top baseball executive Buster Posey<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI asked him, \u2018What do you think about this one? I think he\u2019d be really interesting to talk to,\u2019\u201d Minasian recalled to the California Post. \u201cBuster felt the same, and it just grew from there.\u201d<\/p>\n

The unprecedented hire sent shockwaves through professional baseball while critics questioned whether Vitello had paid his dues. But in the SEC, those close to the program \u201cweren\u2019t shocked at all,\u201d according to one source granted anonymity to speak freely, citing the shifting NIL landscape and a lack of financial support from the athletics department at Tennessee.<\/p>\n

Vitello, who helped lead the University of Tennessee to a national championship, has energized the franchise. IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect<\/p>\n

Vitello\u2019s agent is Jimmy Sexton, who also represents Nick Saban, and put them in touch when \u201cCollege GameDay\u201d visited Knoxville in September, three weeks before the Giants job was open.<\/p>\n

Before becoming one of the greatest college football coaches of all time, Saban attempted to make the jump to the NFL but lasted only two seasons with the Dolphins.<\/p>\n

Riding together on the back of a golf cart on their way to the set of the \u201cPat McAfee Show,\u201d Saban \u201chad some words of advice about the type of decision that I was confronted with,\u201d Vitello told The Post.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think to me in particular he spoke in specific about his circumstances, but I think there\u2019s a good chance he\u2019d say that he\u2019s very blessed \u2026 that when it was time to go back (to college) for him, mentally, that job (at Alabama) was open.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even Minasian had his doubts, but those concerns have been alleviated this spring. Vitello\u2019s club looked like an invigorated group with the second-best record in Cactus League play.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt\u2019s just a natural (question), someone in his position who coached in college, how are professional players going to react to him?\u201d Minasian said. \u201cI don\u2019t know if it could have gone any better this spring. \u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of personality. A lot of charisma. And I think the more we get to know him, he\u2019s very genuine. He\u2019s very authentic. He cares deeply about those players in the clubhouse. I think those are the things that you really start to see more and more.\u201d<\/p>\n

Never earning a dime for his playing skills hasn\u2019t stopped Vitello from jumping in on Pitcher Fielding Practice, picking up a fungo or even throwing batting practice (so far, just behind the scenes). He blares EDM in pop-up drills to mimic crowd noise and hangs out with players away from the ballpark. Adames said their interactions are split equally between \u201cgiving each other s\u2014\u201d and picking each other\u2019s brains on baseball.<\/p>\n

Vitello\u2019s hands-on approach in spring training drills stems from watching the way his dad, Greg, went about coaching high school kids at DeSmet High outside St. Louis.<\/p>\n

Vitello has been hanging out with his players away from the ballpark, and Giants players are enjoying that. Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

\u201cI really, really liked practices,\u201d Greg Vitello, a Missouri Sports Hall of Famer, told The Post. \u201cI just thought that every time I went out for practice, this was a teaching moment. I think that carried over to him. I know he spends a lot, a lot of time preparing for practice.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Reliever Erik Miller is the only player who can say he played for Greg and his son. He was a sophomore at DeSmet in Greg\u2019s final year before retiring.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis dad certainly had energy,\u201d Miller chuckled. \u201cIt was definitely more of a hard edge (than Tony), more militaristic, more old school. Like, you\u2019re gonna do the little things right, and that\u2019s ingrained in everything.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Giants lost at least six games in a row three separate times down the stretch on their way to an 81\u201381 finish last season and were prone to being \u201clistless,\u201d one player said. Players wondered if they would have snapped out of those skids earlier if there was more cohesion in the clubhouse rather than, as another said, \u201cthe manager being separated in his own office.\u201d<\/p>\n

Matt Chapman, who played for Melvin and his coaching staff in nine of his 11 big-league seasons, said he was \u201cbummed to see them go,\u201d but the recruiter in Vitello quickly got another commitment. Posey greased the wheels with a phone call to the veteran third baseman when the Giants were closing in on their decision.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI trust Buster, so I didn\u2019t need much convincing,\u201d Chapman said. \u201cAnd after I talked to Tony, I was all on board. \u2026 He\u2019s open-minded and willing to learn. He knows a lot and is really smart, but he doesn\u2019t think he knows it all. I think that\u2019s a good quality to have.\u201d<\/p>\n

The bigger questions left to be answered are the ones that couldn\u2019t be in carefully mapped-out spring exhibitions, including bullpen management.<\/p>\n

Vitello has formed a good relationship with the quartet of decision-makers in the Giants\u2019 front office \u2014 Posey, Minasian, Jeremy Shelley and Paul Bien \u2014 whom he has taken to calling \u201cThe Four Horsemen Upstairs.\u201d He recalled his dad talking over game strategy with his assistants over a round of Busch.<\/p>\n

Toward the end of camp, Vitello fired off a text to the group.<\/p>\n

\u201cWho\u2019s ready for me to start some crap and have a debate here?\u201d<\/p>\n

But he said Posey has encouraged autonomy in setting the lineup.<\/p>\n

\u201cAny decision we make is going to be a group effort, and there will be no stone left unturned prior to doing it,\u201d Vitello said. \u201cWhatever it is we choose to do, we\u2019re going full steam ahead. Ultimately, I have the final say.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vitello has been weirded out slightly by Giants players\u2019 rigid routines. Getty Images<\/p>\n

Vitello has never experienced the pomp and circumstance of an MLB Opening Day because it conflicted with the college schedule. He\u2019ll get two opportunities this week with Wednesday\u2019s Opening Night on Netflix and the Giants\u2019 traditional home opener Friday afternoon.<\/p>\n

So far this spring, Vitello said he\u2019s been impressed by the professionalism of professional players. At first, he was a little weirded out by their rigid routines.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s comical. If you stand in one spot different than you normally are supposed to stand, the next two hours of everyone\u2019s day is thrown off,\u201d he laughed. \u201cYou also can\u2019t treat it like voodoo. Like I didn\u2019t have my SmartWater before the game so I have no chance of being smart.\u201d<\/p>\n

And that, folks, is the Tony Vitello experience, in a nutshell.<\/p>\n

At various other points, he hypothesized about a player having \u201ctoo much pasta\u201d the night before a game. His biggest critique of the World Baseball Classic was the Wendy\u2019s commercial he kept getting fed. He made headlines in the early days of camp by going on what he described as a \u201ctangent.\u201d It was merely a peek into Vitello\u2019s mind, prone to going anywhere, at any time, no matter the prompt.<\/p>\n

As camp came to a close, the new manager was asked if he felt like he\u2019s had to tone anything down communicating with major-league players as opposed to the 18-to-22-year-olds he dealt with in college.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s go with the honest answer,\u201d he said. \u201cI think I need to kick it up a notch more than tone it down.\u201d<\/p>\n

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